Aston Martin Lagonda has postponed its ambitious plans to become an electric car manufacturer in the near future, as the company’s new chief executive Adrian Hallmark re-evaluates its strategy. Hallmark, who took over as CEO in September after leading Bentley Motors, is expected to announce that the company’s first electric Aston Martin will now be delivered “before 2030,” a significant delay from previous targets.
The luxury carmaker had previously aimed to produce an electric vehicle as early as 2027, with former executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, who took control of Aston Martin in 2020, setting that timeline. Hallmark’s predecessor, Amedeo Felisa, had inherited a 2025 target, while the company’s original vision for a fully electric Lagonda brand was slated to go into production in 2022. Those plans have since been shelved.
The delay comes at a time when the automotive industry is facing challenges related to electric vehicle demand. Reports have surfaced that BMW is reviewing the timing of a £600 million investment in its Oxford-based Mini plant due to waning interest in electric cars.
Aston Martin’s new CEO, 62-year-old Adrian Hallmark, is under increasing pressure to stabilize the company, which has faced ongoing financial struggles and leadership turnover. Aston Martin has had five CEOs in just as many years, with Hallmark becoming the latest to take on the formidable task of guiding the brand toward profitability.
Hallmark’s tenure so far has been marked by two profit warnings within seven weeks, a fresh round of fundraising from investors, and challenges with the company’s supply chain. As part of his reset of the company’s strategy, Hallmark is expected to confirm that Aston Martin no longer needs to meet its longstanding target of delivering 10,000 cars per year to become profitable.
Hallmark, a former senior executive at Jaguar Land Rover, has been brought in to bring stability to Aston Martin, which has struggled with disjointed operations in its Warwickshire and South Wales factories. Industry insiders suggest that Stroll has stepped back to give Hallmark more room to reshape the company, drawing on his experience turning Bentley into a highly profitable arm of Volkswagen.
Aston Martin has faced a series of financial challenges since Stroll took control, including over £2 billion in equity injections, £2 billion in debt issuances, and a cumulative loss of more than £1.6 billion. Despite these struggles, the company’s shares have risen 20% over the past month, bringing the company’s valuation to £1.1 billion—still a far cry from its initial 2018 floatation value of £4.33 billion.
“There needs to be some stability,” said one industry observer. “If Adrian Hallmark can’t turn this company around, then no one can.”
